U of M prof calls for leadership overhaul to address racism — starting with
school's president
Dr. Barry Lavallee says university's top brass should be replaced
with Indigenous leader to combat inequality
Sarah Petz · CBC
News ·
Dr. Barry Lavallee is the director of education with Ongomiizwin-Education at
the University of Manitoba. During a public lecture last week, he suggested the
university's top officials should be replaced with Indigenous leaders to combat
decades of inequality and racism. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)
A University of Manitoba professor says the university needs
a leadership overhaul if it's going to deal with racism head on.
Dr. Barry
Lavallee teaches at the university, and is director of education for Ongomiizwin
– the Indigenous institute of health and healing education.
Lavallee
delivered a lecture at the university last Thursday as part of the
school's Indigenous Scholars Speaker Series, focused on how racism impacts
Indigenous people studying and working at the university.
When he
spoke of ways to tackle racism at the U of M, Lavallee suggested that David
Barnard, the university's president, should be removed and replaced by a
Indigenous woman.
"We have
many Indigenous leaders in our community who are excellent leaders, who can
take this university to the levels it's never reached in a 100 years," he
said.
He also suggested that the university's officials should be comprised of 70 per
cent Indigenous people, to combat decades of inequality.
In an interview with CBC, Lavallee said that positions of higher power, where
you can actually create change at the university and in society in general, are
typically occupied by non-Indigenous people.
'We do have merit'
"We don't have a lot of positions at university, despite us having the same
potential," he said.
"So the messaging there is we have to look at the structures we participate in,
and why is it that men are predominantly more in positions of power and
influence at a university than women."
Asked about whether merit should be a factor, Lavallee said: "We do have merit."
"When people ask about merit, or lack of merit is the insinuation, around
Indigenous people, we are scholars, a lot of us are scholars for a long time but
we're never offered positions equal to white people or settlers," he said.
"That's the problem and that's how racism looks."
"We can't get into this logic of merit. Merit is all over, except its stratified
if you're a white male," he said.
University invited him to speak
Asked to comment, university spokesman John Danakas said Lavallee was invited by
the University of Manitoba "to share his views freely as part of the Indigenous
Scholars Speaker Series."
"This speaker series is intended to highlight the important contributions of
Indigenous scholars and to spark conversations that will advance understanding
and reconciliation," he said in an email.
"The president strongly supports efforts to increase the number of female and
Indigenous senior administrators."
We don't even believe women at this university and their experiences of
oppression. We shy away from it, we hide from it.-
Lavallee
Lavallee's comments come the same month the university announced a number of
staff members are on leave due to allegations of sexual misconduct or human
rights complaints.
The university said there are five open investigations into various allegations
against faculty members. Two of the investigations involve allegations of sexual
assault — one of which also involves allegations of sexual harassment, and the
other involves allegations of personal harassment.
Another investigation also involves allegations of sexual harassment, and the
other two involve human rights complaints.
Lavallee also nodded to this issue in his lecture when talking about the
difficulties Indigenous people at the U of M have when coming forward to talk
about their experiences with racism.
"We have to contend with that, and we have to believe our students, believe our
faculty," he said.
"I know it's difficult, because we don't even believe women at this university
and their experiences of oppression. We shy away from it, we hide from it."
Dr. Barry Laallee is the sort of doctor you should avoid at all costs.
Racist, arrogant, bigoted, conceited, rude, are all adjectives for this
deplorable example of humanity that pretends to be a doctor out of the St. James
Medical Clinic in Winnipeg.
If you read this article above, you will gain a sense of his racist attitudes
that he demonstrates to patients.
This low life should not be practicing as a phsysician. If you have a complaint
about this doctor, send an email to
info@ottawamenscentre.com
